Empire of Japan (I
The Japanese Civil War (1798–1802) was an attempt by the Shimazu and Mōri clans to unseat Toyotomi Inomasa as , the Imperial Regent and de facto ruler of the Japanese Empire. Despite the moniker, most of the conflict involved small-scale, largely inconclusive battles, with several clans remaining neutral throughout the duration. The war ended with the Battle of Hiroshima on 14 March 1802 that forced the rebel clans to concede peace; while Inomasa survived as kampaku, he suffered grievous injuries that left him disabled for life. Background The Toyotomi clan held dynastic control of the Imperial Regency since 1585. While the Emperor was formal head of state, in practice he served as a figurehead while the kampaku ruled the country in his name. The kampaku was subject to a regency of his own from 1598–1611, during which time the five councilors established their respective clans as regional power brokers. The result was the preservation of a quasi-feudal government structure where individual clans retained semi-autonomous powers, such as military levies and commercial privileges. Toyotomi Hidetsugu's decision in the early eighteenth century to move European treaty ports off the mainland to Korea and Taiwan undercut the commercial power of several major western clans, principally the Shimazu. The sudden death of Toyotomi Yoshiro a mere five years after his father passed the regency to his fifteen-year-old son Inomasa, who resisted the imposition of a second Council of Regency, an action that further antagonized the Shimazu. Inter-clan relations deteriorated over the next four years and a military buildup ensued. Early manoeuvres War officially commenced 14 August 1798, with the Shimazu and Mōri pitted against Inomasa, the Tokugawa and Date. Maeda Nogane and Ukita Shiritsubu, two other major clan leaders, pledged neutrality in the conflict. Loyalist forces totalled 500,000 of the Kampaku and 750,000 of his allies against a one-million-man "Second Army of the West", one quarter of which was assigned to the navy. In 1800 the West planned to leverage its overwhelming naval superiority for direct assaults on Kantō and Osaka, the main Toyotomi and Tokugawa strongholds, with the Shimazu rebasing virtually its entire army to Shikoku in preparation. Loyalist clans in Korea, meanwhile, began assembling troops in Busan for a counterinvasion of the virtually defenceless Kyushu. The Japanese Southern Fleet stationed at Taiwan remained loyal to the Kampaku and set sail for Edo to ferry Tokugawa forces. On 23 September 1801 the two fleets engaged outside Tosa; overburdened by troop transport, the Western fleet suffered mobility problems and was devastated by the smaller Loyalist navy, ultimately aborting the invasion and placing the Shimazu and Mōri on defensive footing for the remainder of the war. Inomasa personally led a 650,000-man army on a march to Hiroshima in a bid to knock the Mōri out of the war, while Tokugawa Fuhide commanded the invasion of Shikoku. The Shimazu abandoned the island in the winter to reinforce Kyushu and Mōri positions in western Honshu, and Fuhide completed the campaign in February 1802. In early March, the Korean expedition crossed into Fukuoka, and within a week had besieged Nagasaki. Battle of Hiroshima On March 14, Inomasa's army reached Hiroshima. Western forces comprised 425,000 Mōri and 250,000 Shimazu. While evenly-matched in the field, the West faced a strategic disadvantage, with most of its surviving army committed to the battle and its navy destroyed in a two-pronged attack the previous day. The Loyalists exploited their naval supremacy to bombard shore defences and reinforce the Kampaku with additional cannon. Opting to avoid a siege, the West deployed outside the city to maximize its numerical advantage, however its artillery was soon subjected to naval counter-battery and the army was soon out-gunned. News of the Nagasaki siege destroyed the defenders' morale and the Shimazu flank collapsed, with the Mōri soon outflanked and defeated. Total casualties were estimated at 300,000 for the West and a mere 75,000 for the Loyalists. Aftermath Hiroshima was a decisive defeat for the Mōri; unable to prosecute the war further, the Shimazu conceded to peace soon afterward. Inomasa was grievously wounded in the battle and remained disabled for the rest of his life; he would not sire an heir until 1837, at which point he was compelled to form a second Council of Regency that would, ironically, provoke a minor rebellion of its own in 1852. Category:History subpages Category:Pregame history of I&B4